Kings County Politics article shows how old-time machine
politics is still alive and kicking in the 21st Century

B

Sometimes a shop-worn very old idea pops up and some people
will try to convince you that it’s something shiny and new. That’s how it goes with the roll-out of
Assemblyman Peter Abbate’s candidacy for the City Council. The long and the short of it is that it
looks like Peter Abbate is running for the NYC Council, because he said he is (See “Abbate Enters Race, Tong Stiffed & Other South
Brooklyn Political Intrigue” by Stephen
Witt, 2/17/17, Kings County Politics Blog [http://www.kingscountypolitics.com/abbate-enters-race-43rd-district-city-council-seat-south-brooklyn-alive-politcal-intrigue/]).

Readers of this my independent Republican blog
really need to read the above-cited article by Mr. Witt >>>
if they want to see how real politics is still being practiced in the obviously
majority and patently controlling party in ALL of Brooklyn. --- So, just do it…..

Here’s
the meat and potatoes of Mr. Witt’s KCP
piece: “Assemblyman Peter Abbate Jr. (Bensonhurst/Sunset
Park) quacked like a candidate, preened like a duck, and according to Coney
Island Female Democratic District Leader Delia Schack, announced last night he
is running for the vacant 43rd District City Council seat this year…. Term-limitedCity Councilman
Vincent Gentile currently holds the seat which includes the
neighborhoods of Bay Ridge, Dyker Heights, Bensonhurst and Bath Beach…. Abbate showed up and participated in
Schack’s candidate’s forum for the seat last night at the Knights of Columbus
Hall, 1305 86th Street in Dyker Heights. Also participating were announced
Democratic candidatesJustin Brannanand Kevin Peter Carroll. ‘He [Abbate] (as in original) said he was
running and that with all the things going with the presidency, Democrats need
to come out, and not take things lightly. Of the three candidates, I think he
was the best one,’ said Schack…. [ ] Curiously absent from the forum was announced
candidate and female Democratic District Leader of the 47th Assembly DistrictNancy Tong. According to her male counterpart as the Democratic
District Leader,Charlie Ragusa, Schack didn’t invite Tong….”

The rest of this compact article is just loaded with
the kind of flavorful and vivid detail that makes the bigger picture look and
SOUND real.

I will have lots more to say about most if not all
of this; but that is a story for another day…..

Suffice it to say, if Justin Brannan and his crowd in the
Bay Ridge Dems dig in their heels and choose a fight to the death (something JB
hasn’t done yet), Abbate, Schack and
the whole Brooklyn Democratic Party organization will have a real competitive fight
on their hands. (Rubbing my hands with
glee) Oh boy, I can only hope --- and hardly wait…..

28 comments:

Anonymous
said...

Grow up gale and stop being such a drama queen.

There will be no fight to the death or anything else with the democrats. What do all of the dems running have in common? Patronage. More patronage will for Justin, Kevin, and Tong will take care of all that necessary in fighting. Has Justin gone a week without a government check in the last decade? Didn't the young reformer Kevin run for district leader on a crusade against Vito Lopez? Kevins crusade ended the day Vito got Kevin a job and put his relatives on DA Hynes payroll.

Gale I have a question for you. Do you think Abbate never thought about taking care of his fellow dems? Do you really think Justin & Kevin will fight to the death, or, will they make the same deals they made with Golden to roll over?

I think you may be watching to much TV. Kevin and Justin are low level hacks.

Bay Ridge Dems is a Marty Golden front. Marty has done such a good job of getting fatboy Brannen to carry his water that the club members have no clue. Justin convinced them nobody wants to be a state senator.

10:30 AM is seriously deluded. The Democrats didn't run anyone against Marty because of a deal cut at the very highest levels with Cuomo. The message to local Dems was simple: if you run someone against Marty, not only will you get no money, but we'll blackball you in politics for years. Given the lack of financial support to wage a campaign, and the potential downside for running someone, it's no shock they couldn't find a willing subject.

Some people who know a little about something --- like let's say Brooklyn Democratic politics --- think that they know everything. Now, that's just impossible.....

Sure, there are all kinds of deals and they are happening all of the time. It's like walkin' into a Dunkin Donuts shop and saying to yourself, "Hey, this place sells all kinds of donuts; I guess, I'm now an expert on donuts."

Do Abbate and Seddio, and their allies and affiliates, have something that they think is in place for the long-time assemblyman to come into the City Council job and pad his pension? Probably..... The problem is that it will have to have lots of moving parts to work-out in the end. There's the rub --- lots of moving parts usually means lots of squeaky wheels; and sometimes there's just not enough WD-40 to clear that up.

OMG, I mixed my metaphors (I hate when that happens).....

Back to the donuts --- you know, you got to get up early to make the donuts; and a lot of people have..... Some of those folks who got up early think they have waited long enough to run for something (I KNOW of at least two); they are very likely to be the squeaky wheels (Oops! I did it again). Let's say they are the donuts that don't have holes --- the really good ones with lots of stuff inside (if you're lucky).

Of course there are some that will drop out quick and on the cheap --- but they never were real donuts --- at best, they're something like donut holes.....

Brannan's $57,000 gets matched at a 6-1 ratio, so it's more like $400,000.

Abbate can't use most of that million, as it's corporate money, or funds that exceed the limit for Council races. Abbate has more like $550,000. And he's never, ever had a real fight in his entire political career.

5:18 PM must be a trumpette. facts area geared to make it look like JB is still a player.1- Abbate "never, ever had a real fight in his entire political career. WRONG !!! Peter Abbate defeated an incumbent in a district that had been republican since the 50's2- Then the idiot states "Abbate can't use most of that million". Ha !! Abbate can't use money in his own account. Really? Thats rich !! I'd suggest you call a cop and report that.

Peter Abbate defeated Arnaldo Ferraro in 1986. It wan't much of a fight because a) His opponent was Arnaldo, and b) the election was right after Arnaldo's son was arrested for shooting an NYPD officer in the face.

As to Abbate's million dollar warchest ... the campaign finance limits for city council races ($2750) are much lower than for Assembly races ($8000). Plus, NO corporate donations are permitted in city races. So, Abbate's warchest is still substantial, but not overwhelmingly. So call as many cops as you like, Abbate can't use a lot of that money in this race. And Justin's donations get matched 6-1.

8:13 still isnt getting it. The legislature carved out an exception that incumbents can convert the campaign money for any use and Abbate is not participating in some city matching fund program so those rules you listed dont matter. Also, Abbate is backing Gentile for the bay ridge judgeship so Justin will have to go along or get a real job.

TO: ALL THE BACK-AND-FORTHERS COMMENTING THIS WAY, THAT WAY AND THE OTHER ABOUT ABBATE'S CAMPAIGN MONEY AND HIS NEWLY-ANNOUNCED RUN FOR THE CITY COUNCIL --- YOU ALL CAN'T BE RIGHT ! !

So, the person or people that really don't know the minutia of these City Council campaign financing rules need to STFU, so I and my faithful readers can get the right information about all this stuff before we start giving our opinions about any of it.....

BTW --- a very sage old wag recently told me that Peter Abbate doesn't necessarily have the formula to get a million dollar campaign off the ground for a mere million dollars.

So, if Justin B decides that he won't be pushed around by a big bunch of YKWs, who think who they are, his $60,000+ matching funds campaign should be very competitive.

6:41 is out of the loop and should read more carefully. Where have all of Marty Golden's opponents in the last ten years come from? The Bay Ridge Democrats. Since 2010 they have been running opponents from their club. Justin is the one who personally convinced Andrew Gounardes and Jamie Kemmerer to run, even though he knew neither of them could win. Marty Golden and Mayor work together on a lot of projects, Brannan is not a very powerful player, but he values his patronage, so that's why DeBlasio people told him to cut the crap with Golden and he obliged happily.

Galewyn, it's all over but the bs excuses for Brannan. He is not going to mess around with Abbate, he doesn't have the stones. He got pushed out of Dept of Ed job and had to go running back to Gentile immediately. This is not someone with options.

Donovan is not exactly enamored with any of his Brooklyn staff past or present. He hired all of the names on the list that MG gave him and figured that was that, maybe he'd have to cross the bridge four or five times a year and that would be the extent of his association with the Brooklyn office. Things have gone exactly as planned and Donovan might be hard pressed to remember that there was a guy named Liam working for him at some point let alone actually have an interest in involving himself in Brooklyn GOP politics.

Now THIS is one helluva story ... Last Saturday, Capano had finished a day of campaigning in Bay Ridge so it was time to go home to the townhouse he owns and where he has lived with his wife for the past decade on Staten Island. Everybody knows Capano doesn't drive and mostly uses Uber. So Capano dials up Uber and who shows up as his driver? None other than Liam Mc Cabe. Rumor has it the whole drive home from Ridge to Hylan Boulevard, the two warriors discussed how they will join forces to demolish John "Q" Quaglione in the September Primary. The "Anybody But Q" movement is growing, my friends.

MOST OF THE COMMENTERS HAVE NOT ONLY MISSED THE POINT OF MY PIECE WITH ALL OF THEIR GAS, THEY ARE OVERLOOKING THE FACT THAT PETER ABBATE'S ENTRY INTO THE RACE DOES CHANGE EVERYTHING FOR ALL OF THE OTHER CANDIDATES RUNNING FOR THE 43RD NYCC SEAT --- >>> ALL <<< OF THEM, REPUBLICANS AND DEMOCRATS

On paper, Assemblyman Abbate starts out as a clear front-runner for myriad reasons..... Not all of it is "DEALS"; but nobody can deny that "DEALS" are a big part of it. Not all of is "MONEY"; but nobody can deny that "MONEY" is a big part of it. Not all of it is having lots of political allies and real friends willing to real work for him; but nobody can deny that having lots of political allies and real friends willing to real work for him is a big part of it. Not all of it is having been a "VERY LONG-TIME ASSEMBLYMAN" in a large part of the Council District; but nobody can deny that having been a "VERY LONG-TIME ASSEMBLYMAN" in a large part of the Council District is a big part of it..... (There's more, but I'm sure you get the point)

Each and every candidate going forward --- both Democrat and Republican --- must be able to clearly articulate how they will be able to reasonably confront and then defeat Peter Abbate, because even if he isn't quite the elephant in the room, he certainly is the 800 pound gorilla blocking the door.

with abbate in the race the insiders will now come to order.1- gentile will become a judge2- marty will have no opposition next year3- kevin will get a better no show job4- justin will be rehired by the mayor5- quaglione will get an metro card6- capano gets an ez pass

About Me

I formerly have commented on various political blogs concerning Republican politics. Although the focus of my political commentary has been on the Brooklyn GOP and other aspects of politics in Brooklyn, I have also posted commentary about national matters.
If you wish to contact Galewyn Massey directly, please, Email to galewynmasban@gmail.com